Monday Morning Link Roundup

-Many of you are already familiar with former Badger and current Chicago Blackhawks forward Jake Dowell's family history. His father John, and brother Lucas both suffer from Huntington’s disease, which results from genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells in certain areas of the brain. Eventually walking, and intellectual ability decline until it eventually costs you your life.

Ken Campbell from The Hockey News sat down with Jake and they did a phenomenal two part interview. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

Dowell talks about how the disease has affected his father and their relationship. He also talks about the prospects being tested for the disease himself where he has a 50/50 chance. Make sure you check it out.

-Future Badgers Jake McCabe and Nic Kerdiles from the United States U18 team who are playing in the World Championships won an intense 4-3 game over Russia on Sunday afternoon. The United States scored the game winner with only :23 seconds remaining to snatch the victory. Chris Peters from the United States of Hockey who is over covering the tournament in Germany has a full recap.

-Speaking of internationally play, the United States is participating in the Women's World Championships. Former Badgers Jessie Vetter, Meghan Duggan, and Molly Engstrom are all on this years squad along with current Badgers Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker. USA won game 1 5-0 over Slovakia. The Badgers represented well Sunday, Knight had a goal and an assist, Duggan had a goal, Engstrom had an assist, and Decker had 2 goals and 1 assist and was named the player of the game.

-Famed goalie coach David Marcoux said that North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell has been offered a two year contract by the Montreal Canadiens. UND is also expected to lose Brett Hextall and possibly Ben Blood and Jason Gregoire. If all four go, UND could be in trouble next season. They better hope Grimaldi is the real deal. UPDATE: Dell has tweeted that he plans to return to UND next season.

-Andy Baggot has a fantastic article up with former Wisconsin goalie Kirk Daubenspeck who was critically injured in a car crash. Daubenspeck sounds like he's doing phenomenal and is appreciative of the outpouring of support. Dauber even mentioned that he could possibly be driving in the next month. That's amazing.

-Baggot also spoke with UW centerman Craig Smith who was recently tabbed by USA hockey for the Mens World Championships, a rare honor for a college player. The biggest info in the article is Smith reiterating plans to return to Wisconsin for his junior season. As a Sophomore Smith was second on the Badgers in points and led the team in goals.

-Wisconsin assistant Gary Shuchuk joined twitter has been tweeting recruiting updates. In the past few weeks he's been in Connecticut for the Tier 1 USA Hockey U18 and U16 Nationals, and recently across the Northern border recruiting in British Columbia.

-The NHL Playoff action has been excellent so far. Many former Badgers have been putting points on the board so far. Monday night you can catch former Badgers Kyle Turris of Phoenix taking on Brian Rafalski and Detroit at 9:30 on Versus. The Coyotes are down 2-0 in the series. Turris has a goal in the series and Rafalski has 2.

-The Wisconsin high school seniors finished 1-2 at the Minnesota NIT over the weekend which was a bit of a disappointment after winning it last season. Ryan Dau (Hudson) led TW in scoring and tied for the tournament lead with 6 points in 3 games. He's visited Princeton and Holy Cross. Wisconsin recruit Brad Navin had 5 points (4 goals). UW forward Jefferson Dahl's brother Alex also had 5 points for Team Wisconsin. Potential UW recruit Eddie Wittchow from Burnsville who played for the Minnesota senior all-stars did not record a point on the weekend.

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Former Badger Jake Dowell grants a wish...

Makes you pretty proud to be a Badger fan after watching this video of Jake from NBC Chicago.

3 goals in 3 games, & other alumni updates

Just a few quick alumni updates:

• After scoring his first goal of the season in the Hawks' 3-1 win over the Kings on Oct 27, JAKE DOWELL followed things up with a goal in each of his next two games, a 7-4 loss to the Oilers on Oct 29 and a 3-1 win over the Wild on Oct 30.

• ANDY BOHMBACH scored his first professional goal (and added an assist) on Friday in the Toledo Walleyes' 3-2 win over Cincinnati. In 5 games, Bohmber is 1-3-4. Hope to see him up in Rockford soon.
  

• Looks like MATT FORD is doing well so far this season with the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. After 11 games, he's tied as their top goal-scorer with 4 goals, and he's 3rd on the team in points with 7 points. Ford has done well in the ECHL in the past, and it's nice to see him do well in the AHL. I hope his early success continues through the season.

• Don't forget you can always find stats for Badgers in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, and Europe on Chuck's spreadsheet. The best part -- it includes links the the players' stats pages on the team websites.

• JINELLE ZAUGG-SIERGIEJ was hired last month by Arrowhead High School as the girls head coach. Congratulations to Jinelle, and congratulations to Arrowhead! By the way, Jinelle also does motivational speaking and runs a summer hockey camp.
  

• Congrats to JOE and SARAH PAVELSKI on the birth of their first child, Nathan Joseph. "Nathan, a play-making nine-pound, three-ounce pivot with tremendous offensive upside, will be available for the National Hockey League Entry Draft in 2028."

Oooh, sparkly . . . (& other alumni updates)

- This is Jake Dowell's Stanley Cup ring. He was invited to the Sept 30 ceremony with the team and received the ring at that time. Nice and sparkly, 8 carats of diamonds I'm told. Thanks to Vicki for sharing the photo.

- Speaking of Jake, it's nice to see him record his 1st goal of the season on Wednesday. In 11 games he's 1-2-3 and has been averaging over 10 minutes per game.

- Tom Gilbert scored his 2nd goal of the year on Tuesday, and Paul Capobianco asks us if we recognize the spot from which TG scored.

- Blake Geoffrion was featured in the Badger Herald this Monday. Blake has yet to score a goal for the Admirals this season but has 4 assists in 7 games. EDIT: Thanks to Capo for pointing out this longer article on the Admirals website.

- Aaron Bendickson, who was leading the ECHL's Gwinnet Gladiators with 9 pts (2G 7A) in the 1st 4 games of the season, has signed a 25-game professional tryout agreement with the AHL's Rochester Americans. He'll potentially make his AHL debut tonight @ the Worcester Sharks.

- And since we mentioned Gwinnett, I should mention that Andy Brandt has 2 goals in 5 GP and Mike Davies has 1G and 3A in 3 GP.

- Josh Engel was recently recalled from the ECHL's Reading Royals to the AHL's Toronto Marlies. Engel played just 2 games for the Royals before being recalled.

- People keep asking me where Joe Piskula is. And so I'll tell you - he's with the AHL's Abbottsford Heat and has played in all 10 games so far this season.

Dirty Jake Dowell Goal From Last Night

Nothing like getting a little help off the stick of former teammate Davis Drewiske...



Shout out to G-Unit for the tip.

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Random Friday morning thoughts . . .

• I like Tex Western's new "What I Want to See this Weekend" feature, and I'd like to see all of the things that he mentioned. I'd also like to add one more thing I'd like to see - I'd like to really see Justin Schultz step up. You know he's one of my favorites, and while he looked fine on Sunday v. HC, I thought he looked a bit off on Friday v. BU. (Just my impression, I could be wrong.) I think he's going to be a great player for us this year, and I'm looking forward to his showing that this weekend.
  

• I recently received an email from the UW Athletic Department that details the carry-in policy for the Kohl Center, which I don't think has really changed but I never really read it before. Granted, you never really want to be the person sitting next to the fan who can't stop ringing the cowbell, but I find it amusing that a cowbell is shown in the "No Noisemakers" picture. Doesn't it just seem wrong to ban cowbells at a hockey game?

• I like Ryan Little's response to his switch from D to F: ' "Obviously I'm not the most skilled player," he said with a straight face. "But I go out there and work hard and my linemates have been helping me out a lot, so good things have happened. I'm pretty fortunate." ' [Baggot]. And I'm confident that Gandalf and Hatchet Joe will like Ryan's response to this question: 'Asked for his preference — a goal or a big hit — Little smiled. "For my role, probably a big hit," he said. "Goals are an added bonus." ' [Baggot]

• Last Friday (before the Badgers took the ice), when chatting about the Badgers with a scout, I remarked that the Badgers weren't the team that they were last year, having lost a ton of players to graduation or early departure. I'm afraid I may have implied that it might be a rough year for the boys (although in my defense, I did say I was optimistic and was looking forward to the season). But I like 1st-Star Zengerle's perspective of things: "For the new guys coming in, there's a good amount of talent and a good amount of offensive players," Zengerle said. "We may not be the same offense as last year, but it's a good base to grow as a young [team]." [Gabriel]

• I miss Todd Milewski, whose Badger Hockey beat coverage was eliminated with the demise of the printed Cap Times. I know this is old news, but I just can't help lamenting the issue. Sure, we can still read some of his work on USCHO (and it's always good), but his focus has shifted to general NCAA/WCHA news, and I really miss his Badger Hockey coverage. *sigh*
  

• You probably already know this, but in case you missed it, blog favorite Brian Rafalski is going to be out for a few weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

• I love Derek Stepan. By now, everybody knows about his NHL debut hat trick, and I'm late to the party in commenting on it. Rangers fans picked his hat trick goal as the Moment of the Week, and yesterday the Wall Street Journal featured him in a nice article (thanks to Capo for the link). I'm having trouble getting the video to play, but Stepan is featured in a couple of videos on Rangers TV: an interview about his hat trick, and a discussion of tonight's home opener. Oh, and my favorite quote? This quip from Derek provided by INCH: “I settled in pretty well.”

• The Hartford Wolfpack (AHL) website has a nice article about both Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh. (Thanks to byndblueshirts and Capo fort the link.)

• Coming Down the Pipe listed their Top 5 Calder Dark Horses, with Jamie McBain at #5 and Derek Stepan at #1. Good stuff.
  

• I love that Jake Dowell and Jack Skille are up in Chicago this season. (I only wish the Hawks would win a few more games.) The Hawks play in Columbus tonight.

• In 3 games (2W, 1L), Tom Gilbert has 1 point and 1 assist. If you miss good ol' Tom, you can see him in the most recent post game presser.
  

• Earlier this week, Andy Baggot had an article about future Badgers Tim Davison, Cody Strang, and Troy Hesketh in which he discussed their delay in donning the cardinal and white. The article offers a perspective for playing an extra year in juniors.
• (Edited By Chuck) I didn't want to make a new post so I'm adding on to this 60, hope you don't mind. The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead's Ryan Clark who is the beat writer for the Fargo Force has a feature this morning on Badger recruit Troy Hesketh who was traded from Fargo to Chicago. Chicago is going to play in Fargo for the first time this season.
  

I can't remember anything else right now, but I reserve the right to make additions to this post throughout the day . . .

Skille, Dowell Likely To Open Season With Blackhawks

It isn't yet official, but with the Blackhawks sending down rookie forward Jeremy Morin to Rockford, it looks as if former Badgers Jack Skille and Jake Dowell have secured roster spots with the Hawks. Currently the Blackhawks sit at 13 forwards, and that's not expected to change. If one more forward is sent down, it is likely to be either Viktor Stalberg, or Ryan Potulny.

Dowell has spent parts of the past three seasons in Chicago. In 23 career NHL games, the Eau Claire native has recorded 3 goals, 2 assists to go along with 17 penalty minutes.

The scrappy center is excited to take a bigger role with the Hawks this season. In a recent interview, Dowell talked about taking his game to the next level.

"I don't want to be a dime-a-dozen, fourth-line grinding guy that can be replaced. I want to be a guy that's really wanted and needed on the penalty kill and being able to be counted on in those situations. That's kind of where I'm trying to separate myself.''


For Skille, this season is an opportunity to prove his worth to the Hawks. Picked #7 overall in the 2007 draft, Skille has yet to live up to the hype. He's spent the majority of this three professional seasons in Rockford of the AHL, not always necessarily due to his skill.

Last season despite playing well and putting up big numbers in Rockford, Skille fell victim to Chicago's salary cap limitations. As a result, he was forced to spend 63 games in the AHL, despite being more talented than some players on the Hawks Stanley Cup winning squad. As a restricted free agent this season, Skille took a pay cut to stay in Chicago to prove that he's worthy of his first round billing.

Currently hindered with an arm injury suffered in a preseason game last week, Skille is expected to be back at practice on Tuesday and is said to be ready for Thursday night, when the Blackhawks open the season vs the Colorado Avalanche in Denver.

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Dowell Expected To Be An NHL Regular This Season

With the proximity of Chicago to southern Wisconsin, numerous Badger fans double as Blackhawks fans as well. While the salary cap crunch has forced many players off last seasons Stanley Cup championship roster, it should provide some opportunities for younger players.

One of those players expecting to benefit from Chicago's cap issues is none other than Eau Claire native and former Badger Jake Dowell. According to Hawks GM Stan Bowman, Dowell is expected to be a player to help replace some of the grit lost by losing Adam Burish, Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Eager.

"I expect a guy like Jake Dowell to have a really good chance to be on our team next year," Bowman said. "He brings a lot of that tenacity and aggressiveness to his game."

Currently the Blackhawks have 8 forwards under contract for next season on one way contracts. With how close Chicago is to the salary cap, and Dowell's cap friendly $525,000 salary, you should expect Jake to settle into the fourth line center role right out of training camp in the fall.

Another Wisconsin native and former Badger is in an interesting spot. Verona native Jack Skille is a restricted free agent this summer. Bowman is expected to clear some cap space by figuring something out with backup goaltender Christobal Huet. According to Tim Sassone that should leave the Hawks with about 9.18M to resign restricted free agents Niklas Hjalmarsson, Antti Niemi, Bryan Bickell, and Jack Skille.

Being a RFA, Skille can be offered a contract by other teams around the league with Chicago having an opportunity to match the offer. It should be interesting to see if someone takes a shot on offering Skille a contract knowing that Chicago doesn't have much room to operate financially. San Jose is exploiting this by offering a contract to Niklas Hjalmarsson. Either way, if Skille is with the Blackhawks or not, he is expected to be an NHL regular next season.

Badgers In The Pros: NHL Playoff Update

The University Of Wisconsin has a long history of producing NHL level talent. The 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are doing nothing to dispel that fact.

Joe Pavelski continued on his historic pace Sunday night by netting his 8th and 9th goals of the playoffs. It's Pavelski's third straight multi-goal game of the playoffs. The last player to do the same was Mario Lemieux.

Pavelski is having one of the best playoffs in San Jose history. His 9 goals tie him with Patrick Marleau for the clubs playoff record. Marleau set the mark during the 2006 playoffs. Pavelski is currently first in goals scored and his 14 points are second to only Sidney Crosby's 16.

Dany Heatley had a breakout performance on Sunday. His three assists were huge in the Sharks taking a 2-0 series lead heading into game three in Detroit. Heatley is having quietly solid playoffs. The former Badger All-American has 9 points in 7 games. His 8 assists are tied for second behind Crosby.

Brian Rafalski, the third former Badger All-American in the Detroit/San Jose series also had a big Sunday game. The Red Wings blue liner picked up a pair of assists in the loss on Sunday. He now has 8 points through 9 playoff games, good enough for fourth on the Wings in scoring.

Pavelski, Heatley and the Sharks next play Tuesday against Rafalski in Detroit at 6:30 CST on Versus (HD).

Wisconsin Badgers NHL Playoff Statistics

	Player	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	P
1	Joe Pavelski	SJS	C	8	9	5	14
2	Dany Heatley	SJS	RW	7	1	8	9
3	Brian Rafalski	DET	D	9	1	7	8
4	Ryan Suter	NAS	D	6	0	0	0
5	Adam Burish	CHI	R	3	0	0	0

	Player	Team	GP	GS	W	L		OT	SA	GA	GAA	Sv	Sv%
1	Brian Elliott	OTT	4	4	1	2		0	95	14	4.14	81	.853

Pavelski, Heatley, Rafalski, and Burish are still active and playing in round number two. Suter and Elliott have been eliminated. Davis Drewiske was on the Kings roster for the playoffs but was a healthy scratch thought the first round and they have been eliminated. Also, Jack Skille and Jake Dowell are on the playoff roster for the Hawks but they have not seen time as of yet.

Weekly playoff schedule

Mon-8 PM CST: Van at Chi (Burish, Dowell, Skille)-Versus (HD)
Tue-6:30 PM CST: San Jose (Pavs, Heatley) at Det (Rafalski)-Versus (HD)
Wed-8:30 PM CST: Chi (Burish, Dowell, Skille) at Van-Versus (HD)
Thu-6:30 PM CST: San Jose (Pavs, Heatley) at Det (Rafalski)-Versus (HD)
Fri-8:30 PM CST: Chi (Burish, Dowell, Skille) at Van-Versus (HD)
Sat-9 PM CST: Det (Rafalski) at San Jose (Pav's, Heatley)-Versus (HD)
Sun-7 PM CST: Van at Chi (Burish, Dowell, Skille)-Versus (HD)

Badgers In The Pros: Dowell Re-called, Records 2 Points

Press Release

The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled center Jake Dowell (DOW-uhl) from the American Hockey League’s Rockford IceHogs. In addition, the Blackhawks have placed center John Madden on Injured Reserve.

Dowell, 24, has recorded a fighting major and three shots in two games with the Blackhawks this season. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native has tallied 12 assists, 18 points and 66 penalty minutes in 55 contests with Rockford this season while serving as the team captain.

Overall, Dowell has appeared in 22 regular-season games with the Blackhawks over the last three seasons (2007-09), posting three points (2G, A) and 17 penalty minutes, which includes being held scoreless in one game with the club in 2008-09. He has also racked up 60 points (21G, 39A) and 266 penalty minutes in 188 regular-season AHL tilts with the Norfolk Admirals (2006-07) and Rockford (2007-10).

Dowell played today for Chicago in a 5-4 shoot-out victory for the Blackhawks. While playing only 8 minutes, the Eau Claire native was able to record a goal and an assist. The former Badger was named the third star in the Victory.

Other Badgers in NHL action on Sunday:

Former Badger goalie Brian Elliott continued his torrid pace with 34 saves on 37 shots in a 4-3 Senators victory. Elliott is 12-2 over his past 14 games played for the Sen's. Over that span he's allowed more than 3 goals only twice. Elliott is silencing a lot of critics right now with his play.

A few Friday afternoon odds & ends

• Earlier this week, Jake Dowell played for the Blackhawks in their 3-1 win over the Wild. You might recall that in the 1st he dropped the gloves with Shane Hnidy. Here's the video:

• Apparently Mercyhurst might be considering an attempt to join the CCHA. I don't know how much credibility there is to this rumor -- it was relayed by Paula Weston in her weekly CCHA column last week, and I get the feeling that a number of the kids over on the USCHO fan forum don't think too highly of her. (Thanks to Goon for pointing out the story.)

• Props to Capo for spotting this article about Rene Bourque's hot start with the Flames.
  

• Thanks to Boscacci for pointing out this Angie Keseley article.
  

Smith suspended for an additional game, Lee cleared to play, & other news

• In addition to sitting out this Friday's game v. UNH due to his game disqualification associated with his check-from-behind on Mankato's Geoff Irwin last Saturday, Craig Smith will also be sitting out this Saturday's game, as the WCHA handed down an additional game suspension yesterday. Andy Baggot writes about it in his blog and the WSJ, and here's the uwbadgers release. Shane Frederick reports that Irwin will miss both games at Denver this weekend due to an upper body injury.

• Derek Lee has finally received clearance to play by the NCAA. Baggot writes about it in the same blog post and WSJ article linked above, and here's the uwbadgers release.

• Mike Eaves and Tracey DeKeyser addressed the media Monday in their weekly press conferences.

• Andy Baggot has 5 good minutes with Brett Bennett.

• Olivia Jakiel returned to her blog this week.

• Tom Hager of the Badger Herald has a nice article about Lauren Unser, as well as an article about the Badger Women's early struggles and goaltending battle.

• The Badger Herald finally has a recap of the Badger Men's games last weekend.

• As expected, with the the Hawks off until Thursday, Jake Dowell was sent back to Rockford yesterday. The Icehogs play tonight @ the Chicago Wolves.
  

A few alumni links

Here are some blurbs on Dowell/Skille/Burish from various Blackhawks blogs over the past couple days, as well as a Kyle Turris article I stumbled upon:

• Turris learning while bidding for for an NHL return

• Second City Hockey (Oct 26): It was nice to see the fourth line generate a little bit of pressure and physicality tonight, with Jake Dowell getting into an obligatory scrap with Shane Hnidy

• Chicago Blackhawks Examiner (Oct 26): Jake Dowell should stay up in Chicago, even when Toews comes back. Working a rotation with Fraser, Ebbett and Dowell would bode well for the Hawks, who can chose for a player based on the team they would be playing and the level of physicality. If Dowell, the Rockford IceHogs captain, is too valuable to the AHL to be kept up as an NHL scratch, then the Hawks should call up a player like Rob Klinkhammer or Bryan Bickell to fill the role of de-facto enforcer and fourth liner. Also, I sure hope that Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook don't need as much time as Ben Eager to recover from a concussion. I understand that the Eager has a history of concussion problems, but Jake Dowell's AHL/NHL status might as well be how Ben Eager is feeling that day. If it's bad, Dowell is in the NHL, good, Dowell is in the AHL. Overall, I'm not sure why the Blackhawks don't put a timetable on Eager so they can stop stringing players between Rockford and Chicago. Then again, this is the team that refuses to put Adam Burish and Marian Hossa on the long term injury lists, so logic isn't exactly first priority.

• Fifth Feather (Oct 25): The much maligned Hawks fourth line put together a respectable performance with some solid forechecking and pressure. I would venture to guess Jake Dowell will probably get to stick around a bit this time even when Toews returns. Not to take away anything they did tonight, but they were playing Nashville. The true tests will come when they play better teams.

• Jesse Rogers - ESPNChicago (Oct 25): Toughness vs. Fighting. There is a difference. When Toews got lit up at center ice by Willie Mitchell, it once again brought up a decade-old question: Do the Hawks have enough toughness? A heavyweight is nearly meaningless in this day and age. The rules have changed. There really are no more goons. At least not on great teams -- they can't afford to carry them. And I don't mean because of the salary cap.

  I said that when Adam Burish went down, we would start looking back and saying, "Man, we could have used Bur in that situation." I think we can name about four or five situations already. It's not the heavyweight they miss. It's the energy and toughness that Burish and Ben Eager brought last season. They bring that partly because they can skate. Stan Bowman said as much on the Hawks' radio flagship after Saturday's game. He said the Hawks would consider replacing that toughness if they could find someone who can play a regular shift. Bowman said you can't hit what you can't catch, and he's right. Those guys are not as easy to find as you might think.

Dowell back up to Chicago

Looks like Jake Dowell was called back up to Chicago for tonight's game v. the Wild. Yay!

I, however, just figured out that I don't get Versus anymore on Directv, so I guess I won't be watching the game. Bummer.

EDIT: Oooh, wait, I *can* watch, via this link courtesy of the kids on the Hawks message board. :-)

EDIT: Video keeps freezing up on me; I'm using the radio link from the Hawks website now. :-(

UPDATE -- In 5:11 TOI (4:35 EV, :36 SH), Dowell was held off the scoresheet but had 3 hits. Oh, and 5 for fighting, as already mentioned by HatchetJoe. Hawks win 3-1.

Monday morning odds & ends

• Todd Milewski is trying out a new weekly installment on his USCHO From the Press Box blog, and I gotta tell ya, I like it. In this week's "What I Think", Milewski talks about minnesota being shutout in 2 consecutive games for the 1st time since 1930 (0-0 tie w/ Tulsa Athletic Club and 2-0 loss to Wisconsin), defending national champ BU's opening season losses to Notre Dame, George Gwozdecky's 500th win, Wisconsin's terrible CFBs, Michigan Tech's brutal PK (60% overall), and his Top 20.

• Andy Baggot covers some of the same ground in his "The weekend that was in the WCHA" blog post. Baggot chose to look at the bright side of things regarding Tech's brutal PK and their being swept by CC this weekend. CC converted on 8 of 14 PPs, but hey, at EV, Tech outscored CC 5-2. Go TECH?
  

• The campus papers have some coverage of the Men's and Women's games this past weekend:
  Gabriel (Daily Cardinal): Penalties cost Badgers chance at road sweep
  Donohue (Badger Herald): DeKeyser's squad continues to struggle in 1st game
  Hager (Badger Herald): Wisconsin splits weekend series with Ohio State
  Skurzewski (Daily Cardinal): UW continues trend of splits against Buckeyes

• I missed a couple of Jake Dowell and Jack Skille blurbs over on the Rockford Icehogs blog last week:

  10/21/09
  Lead By Example: Since being named team captain on Friday, centerman Jake Dowell has taken over the team lead in points and assists, a spot the third-year pro is not used to being in. In the last two games, Dowell has factored in on 71% of Rockford goals, recording two helpers on Friday and three on Saturday. Before this season, Dowell had five career multi-point games (one in 2006-07, two in 2007-08 and two in 2008-09). The Eau Claire, Wis. native now has three in 2009-10.
  
  Jack Skille will also go tonight for Rockford and he’ll be my first intermission guest. Some interesting stuff and for a sneak peak, click here. Say what you want about Skille, he’s been great through this whole up and down process with the Blackhawks and is carrying a great attitude.

• Baggot has an article about Mark Johnson's sabbatical from the Badgers this year. Dang, I really need to do an update of the Women's National Team and the Qwest Tour, don't I?
  

• Back in September, Baggot had an article about the plans for the new UW hockey rink being in jeopardy. And the same topic is in the news again this month. (Thanks to DPlaya for the heads-up on the 2nd link.)

• I've been AWOL in my coverage of TW because I simply don't have time. But DPlaya and Walby have been terrific (thanks, guys!), so I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you to check both of their sites for TW Major and TW Minor updates. Go TW!
  

• Speaking of DPlaya and Walby, they are also in the process of previewing HS hockey teams, so check that out. DPlaya also has Fri and Sat USHL updates from this past weekend, Wisconsin players on the NHL Central Scouting list, Wisconsin players in the USHL, and Wisconsin players in the NAHL.
  

Dowell reassigned to Rockford / Adam Burish interview

Called up for 1 game with the Hawks last night, Jake Dowell was sent back to Rockford today. Bummer. Rockford's next game is Wed @ Chicago Wolves.

Adam Burish talked about his knee injury and rehab (and some other stuff) in this HawksCast interview -- skip to 12:20 or so and listen through 24:40.

(photo from icehogs.com)

Jake Dowell recalled to Chicago

The Icehogs captain was called up to Chicago today and played in Hawks' 2-0 win over the Preds tonight. He saw 7:26 of ice time (6:50 EV, 0:36 SH) and recorded 3 SOG. In case you forgot from preseason, Dowell is now wearing #28 for the Hawks (same as for the Icehogs), rather than the #49 he wore last year.

Adam Burish / Jake Dowell

A few days ago, I posted a picture of a father and son who had Dowell posters at the Wolves/Icehogs game in Chicago, and I thought they might like these pictures of Adam Burish and Jake Dowell. Both photos are courtesy of Neil Ament.

I was hoping to hear the story of why Jake is their favorite player, and their wife/mom was kind enough to share it with me, and I gotta tell ya, it's a pretty good story.

Apparently the dad had met Adam Burish and some of the other Hawks at work, and on his son's birthday he happened to be texting Adam. He mentioned it was his son's birthday and asked if Adam might wish him a happy birthday. (On the phone, maybe?) Half an hour later, Adam, Jake, and Brian Campbell showed up at the house and played baseball with the birthday boy and shot Nerf rockets with his sister. Cool birthday for a young hockey player, eh? (Seriously, nice work, guys!)

And as to why Dowell (as opposed to the other 2) became the birthday boy's favorite player? "He's the best baseball player." Excellent! :-)

I might as well take this opportunity to mention that Dowell had 2 assists on Friday (4-1 win over Chicago) and 3 assists on Saturday (4-1 win over Peoria). Nice!

As I mentioned previously, Dowell was named Rockford's captain on Saturday. In the post, I think I mistyped a bit and wasn't clear when I wondered about the implications of him getting the "C", and so I thought I'd take this opportunity to clarify. I had wondered if it implied that the organization didn't see him going anywhere, when what I really meant was that I wondered if it implied that the organization didn't see him moving up to Chicago this season. An important distinction, I think, because I'd hate to give the false impression that I thought the organization didn't see him going anywhere in general. (It was clear in my head when I wrote it.) Given the Hawks depth at F this season, they don't have a lot of room to move guys up right now, and so unfourtunately it's likely that he will be in Rockford for much of this season anyway. And if he's going to be in Rockford anyway, I suppose he might as well have the "C", because I'm sure he's earned it. He's a good player, a good leader, and a hard worker, and it's nice to see that recognized. (Dang, I wish he were in Chicago, though!)

Anyway, thanks again to my new friends in Chicago for letting us take their picture and for sharing their story. And since I like the picture so much, I'm going to go ahead and post it again. :-)

Go Gold Mites!

Dowell gets the "C" in Rockford

Jake Dowell, who had been serving as alternate captain, was named captain of the Rockford Icehogs yesterday. I have mixed feelings on this. It's really nice that the coaching staff and the team recognize his leadership abilities, but at the same time it also seems to be an indicator that they're not expecting him to go anywhere this season. I know, I know, Chicago has a ton of depth and they can't even keep Skille up on a permanent basis, but you know what I mean, right?

Wolves 5 - Icehogs 4

Nice signs, hey?

These very nice fans were sitting near the penalty box, and nubeetle and I saw them holding up the signs when Dowell was in the box (5 for fighting). We saw Jake give them a smile, so we went to check out the signs in between periods, and the fans were kind enough to hold 'em up for us.

If I had been thinking, I would've asked them how they became Jake Dowell fans and why Jake was their favorite player, because I love that kind of stuff. But, alas, sometimes I just don't think. Hopefully they'll see this post and leave us a comment or send me an email at sixtymin@gmail.com.

Dowell was held of the scoresheet, at least scoring-wise -- as I mentioned, he got 5 for fighting in the 2nd period. As you might expect, he won the fight. Had a pretty solid game. He doesn't seem to make many mistakes, and he had a number of good chances. Might just be my biased perception, but it seemed to me that his line didn't get as much ice time as the other lines, so I was a bit disappointed by that, because (obviously) I really like to watch him play.

It's too bad that Chicago has so much frickin' depth. I gotta believe that there are a number of NHL teams in which Dowell would fit in nicely on the 4th line. He's not a star, but he certainly wouldn't be out of place, either.

While we were disappointed that Dowell's team lost, at the same time we were quite happy to see Don Granato get the win as the Wolves head coach. The Wolves had been 0-3, so Granato really needed the win. Don's one of the nicest guys you'll meet, and he loves his Badger fans, so ya gotta cheer for him.

Chris Chelios was in the building, and as I mentioned in another post he seems to really like the chicken dance. He didn't actually do the chicken dance, but I think he wanted to. He was bouncing in time with the music and I think he was smiling; he seemed to really be enjoying the song. Yeah, I think he wanted to do the chicken dance . . .

Oops, almost forgot to give the box score from the game.